


Luminous Once More

by slex (slexenskee)



Series: FICS FOR QUARANTINE 2020 [2]
Category: BanG Dream! Girl's Band Party! (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Soulmate AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-17
Updated: 2020-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:20:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23188399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slexenskee/pseuds/slex
Summary: Aya had always daydreamed about her soulmate. She’s not really sure how Chisato measures up to that. On her end, Chisato has zero expectations or interest in soulmates, and that’s not an opinion she intends to change.
Relationships: Maruyama Aya/Shirasagi Chisato
Series: FICS FOR QUARANTINE 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1667011
Comments: 2
Kudos: 55





	Luminous Once More

**Author's Note:**

> These two are the light of my life and I stan them into the dying sunset 
> 
> This is part of my mini-writes that I'm doing to try to write more/weekly/daily/lets be realistic maybe semi-weekly.

☆ LUMINOUS ONCE MORE ☆

Chisato likes Aya, is the thing. 

She spends most of her time thinking on the girl with a vague, incredulous sense of bewilderment, mainly just over her general existence. It’s not bad, exactly. Just odd. Perhaps she was irritated with Aya’s unwavering belief in the infallibility of hard work in the beginning, but these days she’s resigned to it— perhaps even fond of it. It’s not how she would do things, but if Hina has taught her anything, it’s to appreciate the differences in approach and the individuality of human existence. 

And Aya has grown on her, in a way. 

Her dogged determination to succeed no matter how hard she finds the task; her refusal to accept failure; her dedication to practicing; her positive attitude even in the face of an astonishing lack of progress. These were all things Chisato wouldn’t have thought she could find endearing. 

Aya has more than grown on her— Aya is her friend. 

Actually, Aya is a lot more than that. 

Aya is, in fact, her apparent soulmate. 

Chisato has never held an ounce of interest in the heavily romanticized and prolific advertising of soulmates, even when all the girls around her were reaching the age in which all of the capitalist world’s marketing prowess focuses in on them. Chisato did not dream: she had goals that she systematically broke down into actionable items and with cool logic and rationale and then turned those into attainable targets. This was no different. Daydreaming about possible iterations on her potential soulmate was unrealistic and a waste of time. There was no scientific evidence on the process to begin with; why would she even bother to try and figure it out herself? 

So she had tabled the matter to be considered in the unforeseeable future and left it at that. The average age a person meets their soulmate is thirty-three; she had plenty of time to decide what to do. 

Then, of course, she was strong-armed into a meeting with Maruyama Aya. 

The effect was immediate and as intense as a strike of lightning. The fact was immutable. The girl in front of her was her soulmate, and from the look in her eyes, she knew it too. But that hadn’t been the time or place to confront or acknowledge such a thing, so Chisato merely averted her eyes and sat in the furthest chair with the worst angle for eye contact, and focused on the meeting at hand. 

As it turned out, finding the right place and time to discuss it has been an ongoing issue. Pastel Palettes was off to a rocky start, and Chisato had her hands full trying to do damage control for her group as well as her acting career. She had no time to spare for herself, let alone time to sit down and consider the consequences of meeting her soulmate so early. Chisato and Aya had as rocky a start as their idol debut, which hadn’t helped things. 

Nowadays they actually got along quite well. 

They were making progress as friends and as group mates. 

As soulmates though? Not so much.

“So? What did you think, Chisato-chan?” 

Chisato blinks rapidly, surprised by how caught off guard she is. “Sorry— my mind was elsewhere. What did you say again?”

Aya just gives her an understanding smile, and then adds, “The PasuPare article we did for  _ Idol Dream!  _ I was just saying it seemed to do really well online!”

“Aya-chan, are you still reading about yourself online?” Chisato asks, frowning. “You know that’s not good for you.”

Aya chuckles sheepishly. “Yeah… I know. But sometimes I just can’t help but do an ego search when I’m nervous!”

_ That’s exactly when you  _ shouldn’t  _ do one,  _ Chisato thinks, with a mental sigh. The trainers at their agency have probably told her this a million times though. 

So instead of giving her a lecture— that she’ll probably just willfully forget anyway— Chisato shakes her head and considers it as an honest question. “I think the article was good because we happened to have a lot of new content to talk about. We’re also trending positively in online polls, so that most likely helped as well.”

Aya makes an impressive rendition of a punctured balloon. “Ah… so it was just good timing huh?”

“A lot of success in this industry really does just come down to good timing.” Chisato points out, but this is, again, a topic of conversation she and Aya don’t ever seem to agree upon and is better left unexplored. “Are you heading to work now?” She segues smoothly, before Aya can say anything else.

She nods, smiling. “Yes! And Kanon-chan and I are on the same shift today! What about you, Chisato-chan?”

“I have a script reading later in the evening, but I’m going home before that to walk Leon.” 

“Ah…” There is an offbeat pause, as Aya seems to struggle to find a response. She looks like she wants to say something, but then averts her eyes. She wrings her hands, and says, in a rush, “W— well, have a nice evening Chisato-chan! Thanks for your hard work!”

“You too,” Chisato replies in turn. “Good work today.”

Aya disappears out the door. Chisato watches the spot for an unnecessary amount of time. Then she frowns, looking away. She reminds herself to focus on the day’s work ahead of her.

“Oh, Chisato-san! You’re still here?” Maya enters into the lounge, hair pulled up in a way that means she probably spent the last hour doing maintenance on her drums. “I just saw Aya-san in the hall. She looked like she was in a real hurry.”

“She has a shift at work starting soon,” Chisato replies, which isn’t exactly a lie. 

“I see!” Maya nods along. “Ah… I hope she’s not feeling unwell. She looked a little flushed.”

Chisato closes her eyes, clearing her throat. “Hopefully it’s not that bug going around.” 

“That would be really bad, wouldn’t it?” Maya agrees, solemnly. “Hina-san said her sister had it last week, and couldn’t speak! And we have that concert coming up soon… Aya-san has been working really hard for it. ”

Chisato carefully folds her script back into its folder, sighing. She stands from her seat at the table. “I have some time before I need to head to the script reading. I’ll stop by on the way and deliver some soup to her.”

“Are you sure?” Maya asks, worried. “Eve-chan and I can do it. We don’t have any plans for the rest of the day.”

Chisato sends a reassuring smile her way. “It’s no trouble at all. We don’t live too far from each other.” She hefts her bag onto her shoulder, opening the door. “Have a good night, Maya-chan. Good work today.”

// ☆ //

Aya actually being home to accept the delivery of soup was not part of Chisato’s original plan. 

“Aya-chan,” Chisato says, surprised when the other girl opens the door. “I thought you had work today.”

“I thought I did… but I read the schedule wrong.” Aya admits, sheepishly.

Chisato frowns. 

While that does sound like typical scatter-brained Aya behavior, she’s reminded of Maya’s words from earlier. She had assumed Aya’s reaction from earlier had been due to Chisato, but it very well could have been caused by an underlying illness just the same. Suddenly, the pretense of soup doesn’t seem like much of a pretense. 

“Maya was worried you were overworking yourself and were going to catch a cold,” Chisato began, thrusting the container out in front of her. 

It’s not untrue, but Chisato is carefully omitting her own feelings on the matter from the statement. It’s a half-hearted deflection at best; she wonders if Aya can even see through it, though. Aya is hardly one for subtlety. 

“Thank you so much, Chisato-chan.” Aya gratefully takes the takeout bag. Her face is flushed, and her eyes sparkle earnestly. Maybe subtlety isn’t as lost on her as Chisato expects. “I… you didn’t have to go out of your way like this. I know you’re so busy and all.”

“It’s not a problem,” Chisato replies, evenly. “You don’t live very far, and Leon enjoyed the walk.”

“Still… thank you.” Aya smiles, and this time it’s Chisato who has to look away. 

“Please take care of yourself, Aya-chan, and get some rest. We have that concert coming up.”

Aya nods readily. “Yes, of course!” 

Chisato bites the inside of her cheek. 

Her nails sting as they dig into the palm of her hand.

She wishes… Chisato has never wished before, but right now she wishes she was the kind of girl who could speak her mind as freely as Aya or Kasumi does. 

It doesn’t seem fair. Aya chased her in the pouring rain, just to tell her that she would do her best for Chisato, that she would wait for her and keep trying for as long as it took. And Chisato can’t return the favor. She can’t even admit to being worried over her health. It seems so unfair, that a kind and open girl like Aya would be stuck with a soulmate as cold and unfeeling as Chisato. 

Her spiraling thoughts are broken as she nearly falls off the front step. 

Aya has pounced on her, for lack of a better word, and would have sent them sprawling onto the ground if Chisato hadn’t had the presence of mind to reach out for the hand railing to steady them. The takeout bag with the container of soup is squished unpleasantly under her arm; she hopes it isn’t spilling. Aya’s hands are warm against the small of her back. She can feel her warm breath against her collar.  _ She’s so warm,  _ Chisato thinks.

“Thank you,” Aya’s voice is muffled against her shoulder. 

Chisato isn’t sure what to do with the hand that’s not clinging for dear life. She rests it carefully against Aya’s hair, out of its usual tied up style. “This level of thanks is a bit excessive for a bowl of soup, don’t you think?” 

Aya shakes her head. 

When she pulls away, she won’t meet Chisato’s eyes, looking down studiously at her feet. “It’s just… thanks for bringing it to me. For thinking of me. For worrying about me.” 

Perhaps she should give Aya more credit. 

She might not understand subtlety, but she certainly understands Chisato. 

“I… I’ll see you tomorrow.” Aya says, face red, as she takes a step back. 

“Tomorrow.” Chisato agrees.

She bids her farewell, and pretends like she doesn’t notice that Aya lingers on her doorstep until Chisato is out of sight. All the same, she smiles. 


End file.
